Halloween Town, Here We Come!
by Miss Rigby
Summary: Chinese take-out and a late night viewing of Nightmare Before Christmas? Methinks there could be trouble... Rating for mild swearing.
1. Chapter One

This is what popped into my head while listening to the NBC soundtrack; it's what would happen to my friends and I (with exaggerated personalities) if we were ^magically^ transported to Halloween Town.  Anything corny or OOC is probably meant to be, after all, this is in the humor/parody section.  But I'm sure ya'll were smart enough to figure that out on your own!  ^_^  See if you can figure out which character is me…

                It was storming that night, but had it not been the full moon would have been shining down.  Empty Chinese take-out boxes littered the floor of the cluttered bedroom.

                This was Regina's room and she and her friends Cari, Shannon, and Adria were having a sleep-over for Regina's fifteenth birthday, which just happened to be on October 30th.

                One of Regina's many Danny Elfman CD's was playing in the background as the four lounged about.

                "Hey, did you make your birthday wish yet, Regina?" Shannon asked, just to make conversation.

                "Yeah, it might just come true!" Cari joked sarcastically.

                "No, not yet," Regina replied, shaking her head.

                A few more moments of silence passed.

                "So… now what do you want to do?" Cari asked, playing with a pair of chopsticks.

                "We could-," Adria started.

                "Watch 'Nightmare Before Christmas'!" Regina interjected excitedly, tossing the container of egg foo young she'd been eating in her enthusiasm.

                "Well, that isn't exactly what I was going to say…" Adria tried.  But Regina already had the tape in the VCR (it rarely left) and was fast-forwarding through the previews.

                "Do we really have to watch this again?" Cari whined.

                "Yes!" Regina piped cheerfully.

                "It's because of her 'thing' for Danny Elfman," Shannon explained with a sigh, sifting through the boxes for any more shrimp kow.

                A series of sighs and eye rolls were immediately emitted by the three.

                "Oh shut-up, it's starting," Regina said defensively.  Rather reluctantly, the rest of them got set to watch.

                "Man, this must be the twentieth time we've watched this!" Adria griped in a whisper to Shannon.

                "It's her birthday, just humor her," Shannon said, though completely agreeing.

                "'Twas a long time ago…" the narrator began.

                "We should sing the first song!" Regina cried enthusiastically, jumping up again, this time spilling her fried rice.

                All she got were groans and a pillow thrown at her.  But as she sang, the air seemed to change somehow, though no one could figure out how.  Something about it made them feel compelled to sing as Regina had suggested.

                So, slowly, the other three joined in with Regina for "This is Halloween".  They started to really get into it, and didn't notice the change in the air becoming even greater.  And perhaps if they weren't so focused on the movie they would have noticed the peculiar sparkles beginning to float through the air.

                Then, all of a sudden, the Grandfather clock downstairs started to strike the midnight hour.  Jack had just jumped into the fountain, and the four friends were beginning to sing the 'la's' with gusto, along with the rest of Halloween Town.

                The twelfth stroke of the clock landed just as the 'la's' were reaching their climax, and Jack was emerging from the fountain.  Then, without warning, everything went black as pitch, and the four girls felt themselves falling, spiraling, spiraling…

Wahahahahahaha!  I leave you in suspense!  Now come on, a review takes so little effort; you know you want to!  But not if you're going to tell me how much this sucks.  I didn't force you to read it!  However, constructive criticism is quite welcome.  Thanks!  ^_^


	2. Chapter Two

Well?  Did you figure out which character I made after myself?  *coughreginacough* Good job!  Short chapters, a very odd thing for me.  I usually make them quite lengthy! ^_^;; I am keeping you all in suspense!  Mwahahahaha!  Well, you know the drill, read and review!

Chapter Two

"What the hell just happened?"

                The four girls found themselves sprawled just outside the gates of a graveyard.

                "Well?" Adria pressed her earlier question, even though she was beginning to be pretty sure of what was happening.

                "Ah, I'm dreaming!" she concluded triumphantly.  "Man, that is the last time I eat lo mein before bed!"

                "My tush is killing me!" Shannon exclaimed, rubbing her bruised booty.

                "Where are we?" Cari asked apprehensively.

                Suddenly, Regina, who had yet to resuscitate herself thus far, sat up and looked around.

                "Hey guys, where's my-," Suddenly she gasped and her eyes got huge.  A rather creepy sight, I must admit.

                "We're in Halloween Town!" she cried joyously, leaping up.

                "What?!" the other three yelled in alarm and confusion.

                Adria held her head and muttered, "Man, this is one freaky-ass dream!"

                Meanwhile, Regina was skipping around them in circles, singing "I'm in Halloween Town!" over and over again.

                "She's lost it," Cari said dryly, shaking her head.  Shannon just blinked a lot, with a perplexed expression on her face.  This was a pretty humorous sight.  Regina paused and looked around for a moment.

                "I'm in Halloween Town," she murmured.  "Hot damn!"  She then proceeded to skip and sing some more.

                "Okay, we have to figure this out, come up with a plan… something!" Shannon desperately tried to reason.

                "Oh yeah, what're we going to do?" Cari cried sarcastically.  "Just- hey, where is she going?"

                They all turned just in time to see Regina squeal out, "Ooh!  Look!  It's the hill!" and whip the cemetery gate open.  She then proceeded in whooping loudly and skipping towards the hill.

                "We better follow her," Cari sighed.

                "Oh, that's a great idea!  Let's go into the dark graveyard, sounds perfectly fun to me," Shannon muttered bitterly under her breath, but still got up and followed Cari.

                "You coming, Adria?"

                "Hey, if this is a dream, why not?" she decided.  "Yeah, I'm coming!" she called as she stood up.

                As she then followed Cari and Shannon into the cemetery she swore she heard footsteps some distance behind them.  She just shook it off and figured it was some of the effects of that last egg roll.

                "Damn Chinese food," she cursed as she ran to catch up with the others.


	3. Chapter Three

Ooh, look!  I updated!  That took longer than I would've liked because, unfortunately, I was taken prisoner by the monster known as School, and it took me this long to fend it off.  And to blue oyster cult, (great band, by the way!  ^_^) I am truly trying my hardest not to make this a Mary-Sue.   If it ever starts getting like one please feel free to start bashing me over the head with loaves of Italian bread until I fix it.  ^_^;;  Enjoy everybody!  Everyone's favorite Pumpkin King pops up in this one!  But for some reason I had the hardest time getting Jack's character to feel right, so if there's any OOC that is just too outrageous to be funny, I apologize in advance.

Chapter Three

                Jack peered across the graveyard through the open and ominously swinging and creaking gate.  He swore he saw something just FLY out of the sky, but decided to check it out himself before alerting anyone else.  No one else saw it; they were too busy with Halloween preparations.  It was coming up, after all.  Ironically, no one would notice he was missing for a short time.

                There!  He saw it, something moved.  And there!  On the hill, someone, no, four… things were standing there.  He slipped like a shadow through the cemetery to find out what exactly he had seen.

                "I just can't explain what's happened," Cari moaned, very irritated that she, for once, did not know absolutely everything.  "Adria's convinced she's dreaming."  She hitched a thumb back to Adria, walking and murmuring about what a life-like dream this was.

                "Yeah, dreaming, that's probably it," Shannon said, somewhat nervously, trying to convince herself.  Finally they caught up to Regina, gawking out of breath at the giant moon.

                "Wow, this is it!  This is the real thing!  I can't believe I'm really here!  Dreams **do** come true!" she cried, flinging her arms out and spinning in a circle.

                "Oh, gosh, I think I'm going to hurl," Cari muttered disdainfully, rolling her eyes.

                "Heh, Regina would do that in real life too!  Cool!" Adria commented to no one in particular.  Cari just looked at her strangely.

                "Hey, who's over there?"

                The three friends all turned to look in the direction Shannon had pointed.

                "I-I don't see anything," Adria stammered, even though this _was just a dream..._

                "Yeah, just a shadow or something," Cari assured primly.

                "Oh, yeah, of _course it's nothing!  There are _never_ any harmless moving shadows in a dark, spooky GRAVEYARD!" Shannon cried out, slightly paranoid._

                "Calm down, my friend!  No worries!" Regina assured her hyperventilating companion.

                Then the four turned back to look at the freakishly huge moon, but they were met with the silhouette of a very familiar skeleton.

                Shannon let out a short scream of surprise before Cari clamped her hand over her mouth.  Adria just blinked in awe.  ("Man, I've never had a dream like this!")  Regina squeaked in euphoria.

                "Who a-," Jack started, but was interrupted by Regina, who fell down on her knees and latched herself onto his legs.  He made a very surprised, and more than a little freaked, face.

                "Wow!  It's really you, Jack!"  Regina sighed blissfully, snuggling his legs.  Jack was still speechless with shock and confusion.

                "Um, allow us to introduce ourselves!" Cari started nervously, deciding to take control of the situation, as she liked to do.  "I'm Cari, this is Adria, the psycho latched onto your legs is Regina"-here Regina snuggled closer and Jack started to try and kick his way out of her death grip-"and this is… this… where's Shannon?"

                Cari and Adria both turned around to see Shannon curled into a fetal position, rocking back and forth.

                "Oh my gosh, this is real…" she kept saying.

                "And that is Shannon," Cari said with an exasperated sigh, gesturing towards the huddled figure behind them.

                Jack finally succeeded in releasing himself from the creature Regina clutching his leg and took a step back.  He assumed they were humans, though he'd never met (scared, rather) humans anything like these.

                "Um…" the Pumpkin King was rather unsure of what to do with these humans from the sky.  They seemed fairly harmless…

                "Shannon, get up for goodness' sake!  Of course it's real; get over it!" Regina hissed, nudging Shannon with her foot.

                Adria helped Shannon up, and they all stood there, staring at each other.  It was a tense moment.

                "How did you get here?" was the first thing Jack asked, no longer needing to ask who they were.

                The four exchanged looks.

                "We… don't exactly know," Shannon answered, feeling better now that her initial shock was over.

                "Okay, whe- does she blink?" Jack asked, indicating Regina, staring at him with those creepy twinkley bug-eyes again.

                Cari hit the back of Regina's head with her palm.

                "Hey!" Regina protested, rubbing her head, although it didn't hurt.

                "All we know is we need to figure out a way to get home," Adria informed, feeling she was playing along with her dream very well.


	4. Chapter Four

Apologies for the long time between updates.  Stupid school.  Well, here's the next chapter!  And I'll put a disclaimer at the end because I don't think I wrote one of those yet.  Man, I always forget that.  Stupid legalities.  Anyway, story!  Bon apetit!

~Chapter Four~

                "I don't think that anyone else should know about you, at least not now," Jack told the four humans as they stealthily approached the town walls.  "I just don't think they'd… understand.  Now be quiet!"

                The five moved semi-silently over the wall (which was not easy, let me tell you) and found themselves a few yards away from Jack's house.

                "Stay here for now," he whispered.  "I'll be back later."  And he was gone.

                Regina used all her will power to suppress the fangirl squeal building up inside her.  The four slipped swiftly into the house, the door creaking loudly closed.  They all held their breath, but no one was around to hear the screech.

                "Wow, look at this you guys!" Regina ran into the house and up the stairs to the tower room.

                "Oy, we'd better follow her," Shannon sighed.

                They got upstairs to find Regina running around squealing (quietly) at every little thing she saw.

                "Look, its Jack's table!  Its Jack's books!  Its Jack's dust bunny!"-gasp-"Its Jack's chair!"  Slowly, she sat down in the electric chair, and was finally not being hyper… for now.  "Hey, where's Zero's bed?"

                "Okay, guys, we need to figure out a way to get out of here!" Shannon cried urgently.

                "She's got a point.  But I think first we need to figure out how we _got_ here," Cari alleged.

                "What's the last thing everyone remembers?" Adria asked.  All four of them pondered for a moment.

                "It was my birthday!" Regina cried.

                "And we had Chinese food, I remember _that_," Adria said.

                "Then Reggie made us watch that movie!" Cari cried, realization dawning.

                "I **hate it when you call me that," Regina hissed through clenched teeth.  Cari smiled innocently.**

                "Guys, focus!  Come on, now," Shannon tried to keep them all on track.  "Okay, so we were watching the movie…"

                "Regina made us all sing to the first song," Adria piped up.

                "Then the clock started striking… midnight, I think it was," Cari recalled.

                "It was storming, I wouldn't forget that!" Regina added.

                "_And there was a full moon!" Adria spoke up._

                "So we were all singing a song from 'Nightmare Before Christmas' at midnight with a full moon during a thunderstorm?" Shannon asked, quirking a skeptical eyebrow.

                "Yeah, that about sums it up," Regina said, the others nodding agreement.

                "That doesn't seem too convenient to you?"

                Regina, Cari, and Adria looked around at each other.

                "No."

                "Not really, no."

                "Nope.  Why?  Does it seem too convenient to you?"

                "Just asking," Shannon said, shaking her head slightly.  "Hey, yeah, and weren't there sparkles?  I think I remember those…"

                "Sparkles?  Come on man, that's a little far fetched," Cari scoffed.

                "Yeah, that's taking it a little too far, my friend," Regina conceded.

                "Okay…" Shannon said slowly, blinking.

                "So, basically what we're saying here is that the 'magic of Tim Burton' combined with all the other stuff magically transported us here?" Cari asked acerbically, raising a mocking eyebrow.

                "Ah, the Magic of Tim Burton, I know it well," Regina said, staring into space with a peculiar expression on her face.

                "I'm not even going to ask…" Adria said as they all looked at Regina strangely.

                "What?"

                Collective head shakes from all.

                "We still haven't figured out how to get out of here," Shannon reminded them.  They sat pondering in thoughtful silence for several minutes.

                "Hey, how about we try that thing from Beetlejuice!  You know, how they had to say his name three times and he would come out of the little model and stuff, yeah?" Regina suggested enthusiastically.  Then she remembered where she was and that she didn't want to go home.  She sat back with a pouty expression on her face, wishing she hadn't said that.

                "Oh come on, that's just a movie; it doesn't really work," Cari said derisively.

                "The friggin' 'magic of Tim Burton' got us here; I think we should try and see if it will get us back!" Shannon shouted.  All eyes turned to Regina.

                "What?" she asked, faking obliviousness to the conversation.

                "Well?  Come on!  See if it'll work!" Cari yelled, losing patience.

                "No!  I like it here!  I don't want to leave!" Regina retorted, feeling obstinate.

                "Gah!" Cari exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

                "We're never getting out of here," Shannon muttered.

                "Oh gosh, I'll do it!" Adria cried, although she didn't know why; this dream was amusing her endlessly.  "Okay, so what do I say?"

                "Regina?"

                All eyes turned expectantly to the Tim Burton expert.  She sighed sadly.

                "You have to say 'home, home, home'; that's what they said to get out of the model," she replied flatly, wishing with all her heart it wouldn't work.

                "Okay," Adria nodded with resolution and took a breath before going on.

                They all watched her anxiously as she closed her eyes and said strongly, "Home, home, home!"

                Nothing happened.

Okay, I know everyone has figured this out on their own but this is so that no one has the right to sue me.  I don't own "Nightmare Before Christmas" or any affiliated media, but I do own all my original characters, namely Regina, Adria, Shannon, and Cari.  I also do not own Tim Burton, as sad as that is, or the movie "Beetlejuice".  Is that it?  I think so.  Anyway, don't sue me.  Hopefully new chapter will be up much sooner than this last one!  ^_^


	5. Chapter Five

This update is just for Mia-me, formerly guesswho?  I hope everyone enjoyed the muffins!  I did!  ^_^  So, yes, this update just for you!  Feel special!

~Chapter Five~

                "Why aren't we back home, damnit?!" Adria cried in consternation.

                "WHOOOOOOO!" Regina threw up her arms and yelled for joy, then sheepishly composed herself as invisible daggers flew at her from her companions' eyes.

                "So you're telling me the 'magic of Tim Burton' works just fine getting us here but won't get us out?!" Cari shouted hysterically.

                "Well, this is just great," Shannon said sullenly.

                "Hey, blame it on the Tim Burton freak over there!  It's not my fault!" Adria cried in defense.

                "What's not your fault?"

                All four of them jumped as Jack suddenly spoke up from the staircase behind them.

                "Gah!  You really know how to sneak up on a person!" Shannon exclaimed, her heart jumping out of her chest.

                "It's a gift," Jack replied sardonically, coming up the stairs the rest of the way.

                Jack went to sit in his chair while everyone else situated themselves in some way about the tower room.

                Regina sat on the arm of Jack's chair.  Looking at Regina out of the corner of his eye he scooted as far away from her as the chair would allow.

                "You know, your eyes are going to roll right out of your head one day, Cari," Adria said pointedly.  _Cari__ can't beat the crud out of me in a dream! Adria thought smugly.  Regina looked up and glared at Cari._

                Once all the madness that always seemed to come about when these four were together stopped, they finally got down to business, and told Jack everything they knew so far.  Of course he completely understood and accepted everything they told him because that is what happens in these kinds of stories!

                "And we can't think of any other way out," Shannon concluded.  "We don't know why the Tim Burton thing didn't work.  It had real potential."  The other three nodded their agreement.

                "Who's Tim Burton?" Jack asked bemusedly.

                Regina nearly fell from her perch on the chair arm.

                "Um, nevermind," Shannon said quickly.

                Jack stood up and began to pace.  Regina got up and followed him around the room.

                "Let me make sure I have this straight," Jack began.  "It was storming an-- would you please sit down?" he snapped at Regina.

                "Oh huff puff," she muttered, seating herself down heavily next to Zero's bed.  [A/N: Little 10th Kingdom there!  I actually say that, so I used it!  Wolf's the best!]

                Jack cleared his throat and began again.

                "It was storming and there was a full moon, correct?"-nods from the humans-"And the clock started striking midnight…"  The four girls all looked at each other as the realization hit them like a giant Twinkie.  Or a ton of bricks, if you prefer.

                "Midnight!  It was midnight!" Adria cried, stating the obvious.

                "That means my birthday's over!" Regina whispered sorrowfully.

                "The birthday wish only works on your birthday!" Cari declared.

                "So that's it?  There's no hope?  We'll never get back?" Shannon moaned, not wishing to believe her own words.

                "Or at least not for another year.  This is Regina's doing, so she's the only one as can wish us out," Cari grumbled.

                "I really wish I could wake up from this dream right about now…" Adria muttered, holding her head.

                "That's not entirely true…" Jack said, walking towards them all.  "Here in Halloween Town there's still a few weeks before Halloween!  It didn't work because it isn't your birthday yet!"

                Regina smiled and Cari and Adria breathed sighs of relief.

                "Wait.  It doesn't seem oddly opportune to anyone else that the time here is conveniently behind the human world?" Shannon asked skeptically.  Jack, Regina, Adria, and Cari looked at each other briefly before shaking their heads and answering:

                "No."

                "Not at all."

                "Nah."

                "Nope."

                "Oh."-blink-"Well, okay then."


	6. Chapter Six

I'm sorry it took so long for me to update!  Please forgive me!  *drops to knees and begs forgiveness*  Well, here is the next chapter for those of you who care.  Feel free to review!  *hint hint nudge nudge*  

~Chapter Six~

                "Ha!  Now we get to stay here anyway!" Regina cried gleefully, getting up and dancing around the room.

                "Is she always like this?" Jack questioned the other three.

                "Yeah, pretty much."

                "Oh."

                "So now what do we do?" Cari voiced the question on everyone's mind.  "Just stay in here until her birthday or what?"

                "I guess so!" Regina concluded happily, ceasing dancing.

                "Well then, maybe we should call it a night?" Shannon said with an air of sarcasm.

                "Yeah, okay," everyone else agreed.  Shannon blinked.

                The girls laid down on the floor, quite tired seeing as they had not slept before being transported to another dimension.

                Jack disappeared into his room.  A moment later he reappeared, shoving Regina out and slamming the door.

                Regina shrugged and smiled and had this been an anime a big sweatdrop would've appeared.  After she had laid down everyone was ready to sleep, conveniently situated with pillows and a blanket.  A few moments of silence passed before Regina spoke.

                "Hey, you guys?"

                No answer, so she kept going.

                "I think we've entered here sometime before the movie took place."

                "And what makes you think that?" Adria asked tiredly.

                "Well, where's Zero?  And don't you think he'd have pictures of Sally around?"

                Cari propped herself up on an elbow to look at her friend.

                "You are so weird."

                With a sigh she laid back down.  "Just go to sleep."

                Another few moments of blissful silence passed.  Then everyone could hear someone softly humming "What's This?".

                Three pillows all hit Regina at the same time.  With an amused sigh she rolled over and they could finally go to sleep.

                _I wonder how to fall asleep in a dream… Adria pondered to herself._


	7. Chapter Seven

And the update comes sooner than anticipated!  This chapter doesn't really go anywhere, but have they ever?  At least it's an update.  As always, enjoy!  And I must say, all these reviews are very nice!  I hardly ever get any usually… *teary* I feel so special… *sniffle*  *bursts into fake tears*  Ahem, yes, well, I suppose I should just shut-up and let y'all read the story.  *all readers nod heads*  Read on, my friends!

~Chapter Seven~

                "Wheeeeeeeee!"

                Cari, Adria, and Shannon all awoke at the same sound the next morning.  In addition to the high-pitched 'wheeeeeeeeee' there was another strange sound, sort of a combination of something scraping and rolling.  The three girls looked up groggily to see, then immediately lay back down with simultaneous groans.

                Regina was in Jack's swivel chair, pushing herself in circles around the room hyper-actively.

                "How long have you been up?" Shannon asked agitatedly.

                "Three hours!" Regina chirruped cheerfully.

                "Ugh, I forgot how she doesn't need sleep," Cari groaned.  Regina just laughed and continued flying about the room on the chair.

                "Well, I guess we need to go back to the whole 'gotta find a way to get back home' thing," Adria said sensibly, arching her back and stretching.  The sound of the swivel chair had faded slightly, but then came back with a vengeance as Regina swerved back into the room.

                "Hey, Jack already left!" she cried forlornly.

                "So?" Cari snapped.

                Regina proceeded in sticking out her tongue at her, and Cari just yawned.

                "Well, does anyone have any new ideas?" she asked, scratching the back of her neck idly.  Silence all around.

                "Great…"

                Shannon dropped back defeatedly and Adria rested her chin on her fist in a pensive position.  It took them several moments to notice that the swivel chair sound had ceased.  At the same time they all looked at each other, then around the room.  Regina was looking longingly out the window.

                "Look, you can see everybody…" she murmured, staring down at the town square.  "There's the werewolf and the vampires-"

                "Vampires?!  Let me see!" Adria cried, jumping up to join Regina at the window.

                "And there's the little mummy kid, and the winged demon kid too…" Regina continued, pointing out all the residents of Halloween Town to herself.

                "Hey, that little bat kid was cute; I wanna see…" Cari alleged, getting up and coming to the window.

                "Oh, way to focus, guys," Shannon grated sarcastically, but at no reaction from the other three, she got up and went to the window as well.

                As the three stood there, watching the citizens of the town going about their business, Regina naming all of them off, they began to think this could be fun.

                "You know, there's really nothing that wrong with us staying here…" Shannon said slowly, her eyes never leaving the window.

                "Yeah, I don't really want to go back home to that biology test, you know…" Cari said in the same slightly dazed way.

                "Hey, there's the harlequin demon and the creature under the stairs!  I love that guy…" Regina went on.  "And the undersea gal, and the clown-"

                "Clown?!?  AHHHHHHH!"

                At the mention of the clown Adria immediately hit the deck, curled in a fetal position and began rocking back and forth.  Cari, Shannon, and Regina all looked down at her, then at each other.

                "Then again, maybe we should really be going," Shannon said, and Cari nodded her agreement.


End file.
